AveusT 23, 1918] 
venereal, 9; non-venereal, 1; other surgical con- 
ditions, 59; convalescent, 111. 
Total, 1,034: 
The five hospitals reporting are: The Walter 
Reed, of Washington, D. C.; general No. 2, at 
Fort McHenry, Md.; general No. 6, at Fort 
McPherson, Ga.; general No. 9, at Lakewood, 
N. J.; and general No. 17, at Markleton, Pa. 
THE VOLUNTEER MEDICAL SERVICE CORPS 
Unver a plan announced on August 13 by 
Dr. Franklin Martin, chairman of the General 
Medical Board, Council of National Defense, 
the medical men and women of the country are 
to be mobilized by the Volunteer Medical Serv- 
ice Corps. This organization is authorized by 
the Council of National Defense and approved 
by President Wilson. 
The plan provides for the enrollment of 
every qualified physician, man or woman, with- 
out reference to age or physical disability, not 
now in the service of the government. 
In a letter to Dr. Martin, approving the re- 
organization of the corps, President Wilson 
says: 
In cooperation with the General Medical Board 
of the Council of National Defense, the strong 
governing board of the reorganized corps will be 
able to be of increasing service. Through it the 
finely trained medical profession of the United 
States is not only made ready for service in con- 
nection with the activities already mentioned, but 
the important work of the Provost-Marshal Gener- 
al’s office and the Red Cross will be aided and the 
problems of the health and of the civilian com- 
munities of the United States assured considera- 
tion, 
I am very happy to give my approval to the 
plans which you have submitted, both because of 
the usefulness of the Volunteer Medical Corps and 
also because it gives me an opportunity to express 
to you and through you to the medical profession 
my deep appreciation of the splendid service which 
the whole profession has rendered to the nation 
with great enthusiasm from the beginning of the 
present emergency. 
The health of the army and the navy, the health 
of the country at large, is due to the cooperation 
which the public authorities have had from the 
medical profession; the spirit of sacrifice and serv- 
ice has been everywhere present and the record of 
SCIENCE 
187 
the mobilization of the many forces of this great 
republic will contain no case of readier response 
or better service than that which the physicians 
have rendered. 
Members of the corps will be divided into 
three classes: 
Fit to fight, men under forty. 
Reserves, under fifty-five. 
Home forces, over fifty-five. 
Reserves will consist of those who may be 
called upon for the army, navy, public health 
service and civilian service when necessity re- 
quires. The home forces are those who are 
able to do civilian service only. 
SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS 
Tue American Central Medical Department 
Laboratory has been inaugurated in a French 
university town. Lieutenant Colonel George 
B. Foster, Jr., is the director. Among the 
scientific men who have been working at the 
laboratory are Major William J. Esler, pro- 
fessor of bacteriology at Cornell University; 
Major Richard P. Strong, professor of tropical 
diseases at the Harvard Medical School; 
Major Hans Zinsser, professor of bacteriology 
at Columbia University; Major W. B. Canon, 
professor of physiology at the Harvard Medi- 
ical School. 
Dr. Oscar H. Setiines, Columbus, Ohio, 
who was recently placed in charge of the work 
of the American Red Cross for the children of 
Marseilles, France, has been made head of the 
temporary commission sent by the American 
Red Cross to Italy. 
L. W. Cuase, professor of agricultural engi- 
neering at the University of Nebraska, has 
been appointed major in the Ordnance Corps, 
U. S. Army. 
AssISTANT Proressor Harvey B. Lemon, of 
the department of physics, University of Chi- 
cago, has been commissioned captain in the 
Ordnance Department of the Army and as- 
signed to duty as head of the instrument di- 
vision of the proof department of the Aber- 
deen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Md. 
Proressor Max M. EL tis, of the department 
of biology of the University of Colorado, has 
